Pacific Adventist University (PAU) Week of Prayer, a yearly school-organised spiritual program, ran from Sunday March 21 to Saturday March 27 this year, despite rising cases of COVID-19 in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and a lockdown on campus.
To cater to the students under COVID-19 protocol, eight worship sites were established on campus and the sessions were streamed through Zoom to Facebook for an online audience.
The school was blessed by Dr David Tasker, who shared the stories of various Bible characters under the theme “Heroes of Faith”. Both the students and staff were blessed and encouraged.
“I’ve learned a lot about Bible characters and the Bible,” said second year education student, Anthia Lingta. Deborah Nareka, also a second year education student, echoed this sentiment, “The message of Gideon taught me to be wholly in church and not half-in, half-out.”
Staff and students faced challenges due to lockdown, as explained by video director Rayner Paul, “Some of our accessories like cables were at the main city, [and] due to lockdown on campus we were unable to get them. Other problems [included] network traffic and bad weather.”
Despite these setbacks, the message was broadcast and reached almost half of the Pacific Islands, including Solomon Islands and Tonga, with more than 2,000 people attending or watching online throughout the week.
